Mountain Laurel or Calico Bush
Kalmia latifolia (ERICACEAE)
Planting and Growing Mountain Laurel
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow mountain laurel or calico bush in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Flowers, foliage, seed pods, and seeds of mountain laurel or calico bush
- Growing conditions for mountain laurel or calico bush
- When and where to plant mountain laurel or calico bush
- How to plant mountain laurel or calico bush
- How to shape, prune and control growth of mountain laurel or calico bush
- Watering, fertilizing, and care of mountain laurel or calico bush
- Landscape uses of mountain laurel or calico bush
- Pest and disease control for mountain laurel or calico bush
Growing Mountain Laurel
Several cultivars of slow-growing, dense, mounding, evergreen shrubs, to 10 ft. (3 m) tall, with shiny, azalea-like, deep green, leathery, lance-shaped, pointed leaves, to 5 in. (13 cm) long, and tinged orange red in autumn.
Mountain Laurel Planting and Care Guide
Flowers and Seeds
Showy, cuplike, star-pointed, chocolate, pink, red, rose, white flowers in late spring, to 1-1/2-in. (38-mm) wide, in mounding clusters, to 8 in. (20 cm) wide, with capsulelike seedpods in late summer. Flowers on second-year wood.
Best Climates
U.S.D.A. Plant Hardiness Zones 4–9, ground hardy, zones 5–8.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained humus. Fertility: Rich. Add acidic compost or leaf mold. 5.5–6.5 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Full sun to full shade. Space 6–8 ft. (1.8–2.4 m) apart.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep evenly moist. Fertilize quarterly spring–autumn. Mulch. Prune lightly after bloom. Protect from sun in hot climates. Propagate by cuttings, layering, seed.
About This Species
Good choice for backgrounds, mixed plantings, screens in natural, woodland gardens. Best planted with azalea, camellia, daphne, rhododendron. Rhododendron borer, rhododendron lacebug and fungal disease, leaf spot susceptible.
Warning:
Foliage of Kalmia latifolia may cause severe digestive upset when eaten. Avoid planting in gardens frequented by pets or children.